Do we really live in the Information Age? I ask because it seems to me the retirement plan industry is a bit behind the curve when it comes to making key information available to those who need it the most.
We talk a lot about focusing on participant outcomes and helping plan sponsors achieve their various goals when it comes to supporting their employees reaching retirement. But in reality, without the right data, even advisors with the best intentions are hamstrung when it comes to delivering results.
In a day and age when information about most things is free-flowing and readily available, our industry tends to hold its data and information close to the vest, and I believe now is the time to change our thinking.
Just like the record industry that tried to hold on to an outdated business model, some recordkeepers and TPAs seem reluctant to move our business forward and make needed information available where and when advisors (who distribute their products and services) need it. Over the past couple of years many organizations have made an effort to aggregate retirement plan data, none of which were successful, for a variety of reasons.
That said, I believe, it’s time we come together as an industry in a way that puts information in the hands of those who can have the greatest impact on participant outcomes: advisors. Information should be readily available in a standard format that can be provided and used by all parties (with plan sponsor permission where needed), in any system, so that we can truly focus on the end result instead of shying away from doing what we know is right because it’s impossible to get the necessary data.
Not only would this make things more efficient for advisors, who support a multitude of product platforms, but it would create tremendous synergies for those platforms as well. No longer would advisors need to create individual data feeds to meet the multitude of requests they receive today.
My concern is that if we don’t do this soon, the retirement epidemic Americans face will only continue to worsen. So why not get ahead of the curve and create a winning solution for all the stakeholders?
